Lack of Buoyancy
by Robotics-girl19
Summary: Broken bone injuries don't transfer well to mermaid tails... When Bella is in trouble, who comes to her rescue?


**I think Bella and Will are super cute together, but much to my dismay, there weren't very many stories about them. I decided to write one to try to solve that problem. This is what I came up with. Enjoy!**

_**Lack of buoyancy**_

_**Broken bone injuries don't transfer well to mermaid tales…**_

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><p>"You're sure you can get to my place without help?" Will asked Bella.<p>

"Of course, Will," she replied. "I'm getting much faster with the crutches and it's not that far. I'll meet you there in about fifteen minutes." She heard him sigh on the other end of the phone.

"Alright, fine. I might be a little late," he said. "I have to stop by the café and pick up my diving equipment. I left it there when we left last time."

"Okay. See you soon," she said happily before hanging up the phone and slipping it into her pocket. Having completed that, she grabbed her crutches and started off towards Will's boathouse. She thought back to how she had gotten the crutches in the first place.

She had broken her foot two days ago when one of the guys playing football on the beach had run into her. They had both fallen and he had landed on her foot awkwardly. At first, it hurt more than anything she had ever experienced, but after a few minutes it had dulled enough for her to move. Will had been nearby and had half-carried her to the hospital where they got it checked out. She had hoped that it was only sprained, but it turned out to be a hairline fracture. He had picked her up a pair of crutches and then dropped her off at her house. Over the last two days, she had gotten the hang of the crutches, but they were still a pain at school and she hadn't been swimming since the accident. They had all decided that it probably wouldn't be good for her to be swimming with an injury because they didn't know how it would transfer over to her tail. She was still going to try to convince them to let her swim in shallow waters to see how it affected her tail. These thoughts kept her occupied and she made it to Will's place in just under fifteen minutes.

"Will?" she called as she made her way down the pier. "Are you here yet?" There was no reply, so she figured he was still at the café. He had been doing his best to keep her occupied and entertained because he knew she was dying to swim again. Yesterday they had gone to a movie and today they were going to finish up their studying for school before meeting the other girls for a barbeque. They had plans for tomorrow as well. Her foot was starting to ache again, so Bella headed for the door to make herself at home. She was sure that he wouldn't mind. Just as she got near the end of the pier, one of her crutches got caught in a pile of rope. She tripped and before she could catch herself, Bella tumbled off the pier.

Hitting the water was much more chaotic this time than it had been in the past. One of her crutches hit her in the head and while it wasn't hard enough to do any damage, it was surprising. That, coupled with her foot feeling like it was breaking in half, caused her to lose half of the air in her lungs. She panicked for a moment, but after several seconds she transformed and suddenly had quite a bit more air in her lungs. As she sank lower into the water, she took a few seconds to calm herself before trying to swim to the surface. Then she hit another snag. She couldn't move her tail! It was completely disabled.

Bella tried to use her arms to pull herself to the surface only to find that her tail was actually making her drop like a stone. Its weight, which normally propelled her through the water, was now dragging her to its depths. Fortunately, it was only about thirty feet deep where she was, but she had no way of swimming back to the surface. She crawled under the pier to make sure no passersby would spot her and tried to come up with a plan. She could just make out people walking on the pier, so she would be able to know when Will came.

She tried moving again to find that she still couldn't move her tail at all. She was able to bend at the waist, but the rest of her tail was as stiff as a board. There was no possible way for her to swim that way, let alone make her way to the surface. Will would be here soon though, so she figured she would just wait until he came and helped get her out of the water. How she was going to get his attention though…

She waited patiently at first, trying to think of a plan before he arrived. After nearly ten minutes though, she began to worry. She was running out of air. Not quickly; she still had another five or six minutes before it started getting bad, but she was getting worried that Will would never come.

By the time she finally heard footsteps, she had come up with some form of a plan. Her only hope was that it was Will walking on the dock.

"Bella?" she faintly heard him call. Relief swept through her like a wave. She was starting to get slightly lightheaded from the lack of air. "Are you here?" he called again.

Bella began putting her plan into action. She took a ball of water about the size of a baseball and turned it into hardened gel. Then she sent it floating up to the surface. It broke the surface and floated for a little bit before dissolving again. Will continued walking into the boat house and didn't seem to notice. She heard him call for her again. Bella knew instinctively that he would leave and start looking for her elsewhere if she didn't get his attention soon.

She made six or seven more balls and sent them up to the surface with more force. Each of them cleared the surface and kept going several more inches before slapping the water when they came back down. Will paused on the dock and she saw him turn towards the water through the cracks in the wood. She sent up several more before coming up with a more direct method.

She carefully crafted an 'H', 'E', 'L', and a 'P' and sent them to the surface. They got a little jumbled while floating upward, but apparently Will got the message. A moment later bubbles were everywhere as he dove into the water. He spun around in the water, looking for her. Bella smiled and waved when he finally found her. He frowned and raised his hands asking '_What's wrong'_

Bella dragged herself out from under the dock and pointed to her tail, which was still totally stiff. She tried to swim to him, but couldn't manage anything better than dragging herself across the sandy floor. Will seemed to understand somewhat and swam to her. He took her outstretched arm and lifted her to a more upright position so that he was almost standing on the bottom. She showed him that she couldn't swim at all and he nodded to show that he understood. He wrapped one arm around her and pushed off the sandy floor. She used her arms as best as she could and they made their way to the surface, but she was starting to get dizzy from lack of air. The last ten feet were much slower than the first twenty, though, because their momentum ran out and Will was forced to swim as hard as he could to keep them both from sinking back down.

They finally broke the surface and the both gasped for air. Bella was only able to get one good breath in before she sank back under. Will grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the surface while grabbing onto the ladder with his other hand.

"Here, hold the ladder," he instructed. "That's right. You're fine now." Bella clung to the ladder, still gasping for air. Will held onto the ladder with one hand and kept his arm wrapped around Bella in case she let go. They stayed there until Bella's breathing was back to normal. "Let's get you out of the water," Will suggested. Bella nodded weakly. "I'm going to get out and we can pull you around to the back of my place. We can get you back on land from there." Will climbed up the ladder and grabbed the coil of rope that Bella had tripped on earlier. He tied a knot at the end of it and passed it to her. "Hold on tight," he instructed. Bella let go of the ladder and clung to the rope as Will pulled her around the dock.

When they were hidden from view, Will traded the rope out for his hand and pulled Bella onto a platform that was usually used to lower small boats into the water. From there, they carefully adjusted her onto the pier. He pulled her back far enough so she was leaning against the boat house.

"Does your tail hurt at all? Or is it just stiff?" Will asked her as he sat down beside her.

"It's just stiff. It almost feels like it's asleep. I'd really like to dry off. I'm really hoping I didn't hurt my foot at all," she trailed off.

"I guess we'll find out," Will said as he got up to get some towels. Together, they dried the mermaid off enough until she transformed back. Instantly, her foot started to ache again, but it wasn't the blinding pain it had been two days ago. "How is it?" he asked anxiously.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be. Let's just get to studying," she said, still shaken. Will got up to help her up, but then paused and looked around.

"Where are your crutches?"

"They fell in with me. They're probably still in the water," she explained.

"That's fine," he said with a smile. Before she could respond, he bent down and scooped her up into his arms. She yelped in surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck. She saw him smile and she relaxed into him. He took her inside and sat her down on the bed before winking and heading back outside. She heard a splash and knew he was going to get her crutches. Bella smiled; of course he was going to get them. She heard him surface a few minutes later and he walked in with another towel and her crutches.

"Thank you," she said. He dried himself off thoroughly before sitting down next to her.

"So about studying…" he said with a smile.

"I totally forgot about that!" she exclaimed. "Let's do something…not dangerous." Will brought over their books and flipped open their science book. Then he started laughing. "What?"

"Guess what we're studying?" he asked with a grin. She looked at him blankly. "Buoyancy in water."

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><p><strong>What did you think? Hit the review button and tell me please!<strong>


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